Not long after I downloaded the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, I had a weird flashback to something Microsoft introduced some years ago. Remember Bob, the consumer UI put on Windows 95 and NT to simplify the user experience? Wikipedia has the best description of Bob I have read:

Bob included various office suite programs such as a finance application and a word processor. The user interface was designed to simplify the navigational experience for novice computer users. Similar to early graphical shells like Jane, the main interface is portrayed as the inside of a house, with different rooms to correspond to common real-world room styles such as kitchen and family room. Each room can contain decorations and furniture, as well as icons that represent applications. Bob offers the user the option of fully customizing the entire house. The user has full control over decorating each room, and can add, remove, or reposition all objects. The user can also add or remove rooms from the house and change the destinations of each door.

It is the last line of the definition that strikes a chord: you can "change the destinations of each door." Sound familiar? In this case, Windows 8 uses tiles as doors and each takes the user to a new destination, like apps or content. However, Bob was almost cartoonish in its design and was a big failure, rejected by consumers from the start. (By the way, I still have a box with Bob on the shelf in my office museum. I proudly display it, as it was given to me by then Microsoft Bob project manager Melinda French, who later became the wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.)

Now, I know it is completely unfair to compare Bob to Windows 8 as they are completely different products. In essence, though, they have the same objectives: to make the PC easier to use. With this latest version, Microsoft also adds the dimension of touch to the laptop and PC experiences, but it's on these devices that I believe consumers will have a tough time accepting and adopting this new OS.

Those who have already tried the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a laptop or PC, have likely discovered how inferior the experience is when trying to navigate the new Metro UI with a mouse or trackpad. The fact that Microsoft has removed the Start button from the desktop version only forces the user to click more to find the similar functions in Metro tiles. Now, Microsoft is trying to push the OEM vendors to put touch screens on all new laptops and PCs. They are resisting, however, because doing so adds at least $100 to $150 to the user cost of the device. That would mean OEMs have to pass the cost on to the customer, making these computers more expensive.

Now don't get me wrong. I really like Metro and believe it is an important advancement for Windows. It works well on a Windows Phone and on the Windows 8 tablets I have tested. It fails, however, on laptops and PCs that lack touch screens and use only the traditional mouse or trackpad for input. If it is reviewed negatively because of this non-touch input aspect and consumers see it as hard to use with these input devices, it could prevent users from adopting it quickly. In fact, I have already heard some savvy users suggest that Windows 8 could be another Vista because of this.

To be fair, Microsoft did release a recommended specification last month for new trackpads so that they could coordinate with the Metro touch UI, but this is very late in the design cycle. That trackpad spec should have been released a year ago to make sure all new laptops met the conditions by the time it ships in October. The only good news about this is that it appears Synaptics saw this problem last year and on its own began creating a special trackpad that maps to the Metro UI. Still, it's unclear how many new laptops will have these in them by the fall launch. By the way, notice that Apple has not introduced touch screens to its laptops and desktops and instead has put extra effort into creating a trackpad and external trackpad that maps to the touch gestures of its mobile devices instead.

So, if this approach to launching the Windows Metro UI on laptops and PCs has these associated pitfalls, what should Microsoft have done to make the transition smoother? I think it should have been more measured and calculated with this release. Instead of just releasing it without strong touch support from alternate input devices, I would have just rolled it out on tablets. In the mean time, I would have made sure all the new PCs and laptops going out the door had alternate input devices that were totally optimized for this touch experience without a touch screen.

When these new PCs and laptops were optimized in this way, only then would I roll them out with Windows 8 and from that point on make it the basic new OS for these new machines. I hear that while some vendors might have the new Synaptics or similar touchpads in their products by roll out, the majority of laptops and PCs that ship with Windows 8 at launch will not be optimized with these types of alternate input devices.

I personally hope I am completely wrong and people will love the new Metro UI, even with these input flaws. This is a very important OS for PC vendors and most are betting their companies on it for any future growth. I am just not convinced that it will be a raging success out of the gate without the proper optimized alternate input that matches the touch input that is supposed to be the center of Metro's real user value. It will be most interesting to watch how consumers react to Windows 8. Microsoft has only one chance to get Windows 8 right or, as some in-the-know folks I know suggest, it could suffer the same fate as Vista.

Tim Bajarin is one of the leading analysts working in the technology industry today. He is president of Creative Strategies (www.creativestrategies.com), a research company that produces strategy research reports for 50 to 60 companies annuallya roster that includes semiconductor and PC companies, as well as those in telecommunications, consumer electronics, and media. Customers have included AMD, Apple, Dell, HP, Intel, and Microsoft, among many others. You can e-mail him directly attim@creativestrategies.com.

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Tim Bajarin is recognized as one of the leading industry consultants, analysts, and futurists covering the field of personal computers and consumer technology. Mr. Bajarin has been with Creative Strategies since 1981 and has served as a consultant to most of the leading hardware and software vendors in the industry including IBM, Apple, Xerox, Comp... See Full Bio

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